Goodbye Friend
by Shizuka Ayasato
Summary: Phoenix Wright is dead. Edgeworth, Maya and Apollo think on the aftermath and express their thoughts. Implied Phoenix/Maya


**A/N: Inspired by the song _Goodbye Friend_ by Bowling For Soup. I suggest looking up the song on Youtube to see what I mean :D **

**Sorry, don't mean to depress anyone x.x **

**Implied Phoenix/Maya**

* * *

Edgeworth's mouth was pulled into a tight frown as he placed a carnation on the grave.

_Phoenix Wright_

…was the name written on the gravestone.

'_Goodbye Wright, you were a great defense attorney and an even better friend.' _Edgeworth thought to himself.

He could barely believe it had happened. Who would've known that Kristoph Gavin was able to drive a man to insanity that he'd become suicidal? Phoenix was so close too, to solving everything, to getting Kristoph locked up with a death sentence hanging over his head.

'_Well,' _Edgeworth thought bitterly, _'You did succeed in giving the Devil a taste of his sins but you became a victim yet again.' _

Edgeworth strolled toward the back of the crowd where he could see everyone else clearly without them bothering to pay too much attention to him.

He could still remember that last look Wright had given him during their last conversation, seven long years ago.

"_Edgeworth, I'm going to go after Kristoph. I…I want you to look after Maya for me. Check in on her from time to time; see how Pearls is doing with her training and everything. Could you be my messenger? Please? I might never see her again, and truth be told…I might never see you or Larry, or any of our other friends ever again either. At least, not until this is all wrapped up. So I want you to keep in touch with everyone for me. Doesn't matter if the news never actually reaches me, just make sure everybody's alright."_

_His friend had a fiery determination around him and Edgeworth couldn't stop him. So he tersely nodded his head. "Yes," was all he had to say to get Phoenix to grin and relax…just a bit. _

"I hope you know Wright," Edgeworth said aloud, "That no one blames you and…" Edgeworth turned his head a bit to the right and let his gaze lie on a young woman on her knees in front of the gravestone, sobbing openly. "That there's someone here, who misses you more than the rest of us."

* * *

Maya didn't care that she probably looked pathetic and unbefitting of the Master of Kurain. Right now she was plain old Maya Fey and she was grieving someone who never got a chance to be more than a friend.

She didn't know why she was sobbing so hard, she didn't cry this much when Sis died did she?

She didn't know why the sky was so blue today; she didn't know why the birds were singing happily, she didn't know anything today. Today she was a mess in a black gown. She didn't even know how the world could be so cruel.

In this war, nobody won. She could hardly call this a victory when they lost the man in lead.

And yet, the objective was met. They jailed Kristoph Gavin.

But victory, Maya remembered, tasted sweet and was a cause for celebration. This…this outcome was full of empty promises and existing outliers. Outliers that weren't supposed to happen.

She still recalled the days back at the office when Nick would watch Steel Samurai reruns over and over with her, how he wouldn't mind when she knocked on his bedroom door in the middle of the night needing comfort, a hug and the right words to make it all better.

Nick was always there for her, always there to help her out no matter the outcomes. He'd even joked when she started crying that day, that final bittersweet April day that he should just ditch the attorney gig and go be her advisor in Kurain since she couldn't function without him. She'd told him it was a stupid idea, but she hadn't realized 'ditching the attorney gig' would come so soon.

"Well I can't!" she cried out. Mia, channeled by Pearl, and Iris on either side of her were startled. "I can't function without him!" Maya sat on the ground, defeated, quietly wiping her eyes and whispering, "Give him back to me. He said forever. I haven't had forever yet."

Maya felt Mia and Iris help her off the ground as she tried to compose herself.

"I haven't had forever yet…so why do I have to say goodbye?"

She laid a red tulip on the grave instead of the usual carnation. "I hope you remember what I told you about red tulips."

Maya dusted off her dress and let herself be led away.

* * *

Sometimes Apollo hated Mr. Wright. Hated him dearly for doing this to all the people who loved him.

Trucy.

Mr. Edgeworth.

Ms. Von Karma.

The Skyes.

That girl around Trucy's age who seemed to disappear just a while ago.

The odd man who sobbed that about being sorry for bothering Mr. Wright with his relationship problems. Mr. Butz…? Was that what his name was?

Maya Fey, Mia Fey and Iris Fey.

Various clients that couldn't stop going on about what a wonderful man he had been.

Apollo couldn't help but watch as they bunched into groups and consoled each other about the man who had, on some occasions, saved their lives more than once.

And yet, Apollo wasn't entitled to blame Mr. Wright. Mr. Wright was a strong man, not just physically. Apollo admitted that he would probably cave faster under the same kind of emotional trickery and he would do the same thing – end his own life.

He just wondered why and how it all worked out perfectly. How Kristoph Gavin managed to trip up Phoenix Wright without harming any of his colleagues was beyond Apollo's knowledge.

Then again… Apollo turned in a circle and gave everyone on the cemetery grounds a good look over. '_I guess Mr. Gavin hurt them with the aftermath.' _

"Well," Apollo looked up to the sky, "I never knew you that long Mr. Wright, but you're complex and damn hard to read. I just wish you could've been around longer, so that I could get to know you just as well as everyone else."

He stuck his hands into his pockets, shuffled his feet and looked at the ground.

"You know, sometimes I really hate you." Apollo admitted. "I'm sure you know why but all these people…" He waved his arm around and gestured to all the people around. "They look at me and expect me to know why you didn't contact anyone. Why you refused to restore lost links, even why you wear that stupid hat!"

By now Apollo was shouting at the grave and he could feel certain people standing behind him watching him but he wasn't done.

"Most of all…" Apollo sighed. "They look at me and think I know why you offed yourself. Well, I don't. You could've fixed yourself, because I'm sure something just broke. Your heart maybe… but I didn't come here to lecture Mr. Wright."

"I came to say goodbye."

* * *

_Well thank you all for saying goodbye….Do I even deserve it? It's like you all said. What changed? I let myself slip through the cracks. I'm sorry, I'm so, so, sorry. _

_I'm such an idiot. _

_I'm sorry Edgeworth, was it too much to ask? I didn't even let you know what happened on my end. I'm sure you could've helped more, being the high prosecutor that you are. I want to thank you for everything you did _

_Maya…I'm sorry that you have to live with the dreams that will never come true. I hope to see you again someday, maybe when you come over to the other side of the sky but there's other men out there, forget about me. Your forever is still possible. Of course I remember what a red tulip means...A confession of love..._

_And Apollo, I'm sorry they look at you that way, it's my fault I know, and I can't explain to you or them what happened, but you need to keep your head up high. My mentor left me when I was rookie too, and she told me to keep faith and work hard. You need to work hard too Apollo, because I don't mean to brag but uh, you got some pretty big shoes to fill. Take care of Trucy for me and overcome the legendary Ace Attorney. _

Goodbye friends, I'll see you all someday soon.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! :) **

**I hope I managed to relate the song to this fic without making it borderline on complete "songfic". Then again, I don't have anything against songfics. **


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